Viking Bergen Island
Encyclopedia
Viking Bergen is the name of a hypothetical former island between modern Shetland and Norway
, at the boundary of the North Sea
, and Norwegian Sea
. The area is now known as the "Viking-Bergen banks".
During the Bølling–Allerød Period
, known in Britain as the Windermere interstadial, the northern coast of Doggerland
began to recede as global sea levels rose. There may have been a Shetland island marking the northern end of a bay north of the Dogger Hills, and the Viking-Bergen island would have been between the bay and the Norwegian Trench.
A more recent hypothesis is that much of the land was inundated by a tsunami
around 8200 BP (6200 BC), caused by a submarine landslide off the coast of Norway
known as the Storegga Slide
. This theory suggests "that the Storegga Slide tsunami would have had a catastrophic
impact on the contemporary coastal Mesolithic population... Following the Storegga Slide tsunami, it appears, Britain finally became separated from the continent and, in cultural terms, the Mesolithic there goes its own way."
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, at the boundary of the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
, and Norwegian Sea
Norwegian Sea
The Norwegian Sea is a marginal sea in the North Atlantic Ocean, northwest of Norway. It is located between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea and adjoins the North Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Barents Sea to the northeast. In the southwest, it is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a...
. The area is now known as the "Viking-Bergen banks".
During the Bølling–Allerød Period
Allerød Oscillation
The Allerød period was a warm and moist global interstadial that occurred at the end of the last glacial period. The Allerød oscillation raised temperatures , before they declined again in the succeeding Younger Dryas period, which was followed by the present interglacial period.In some regions,...
, known in Britain as the Windermere interstadial, the northern coast of Doggerland
Doggerland
Doggerland is a name given by archaeologists and geologists to a former landmass in the southern North Sea that connected the island of Great Britain to mainland Europe during and after the last Ice Age, surviving until about 6,500 or 6,200 BCE, though gradually being swallowed by rising sea levels...
began to recede as global sea levels rose. There may have been a Shetland island marking the northern end of a bay north of the Dogger Hills, and the Viking-Bergen island would have been between the bay and the Norwegian Trench.
A more recent hypothesis is that much of the land was inundated by a tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
around 8200 BP (6200 BC), caused by a submarine landslide off the coast of Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
known as the Storegga Slide
Storegga Slide
The three Storegga Slides are considered to be amongst the largest known landslides. They occurred under water, at the edge of Norway's continental shelf , in the Norwegian Sea, 100 km north-west of the Møre coast, causing a very large tsunami in the North Atlantic Ocean...
. This theory suggests "that the Storegga Slide tsunami would have had a catastrophic
impact on the contemporary coastal Mesolithic population... Following the Storegga Slide tsunami, it appears, Britain finally became separated from the continent and, in cultural terms, the Mesolithic there goes its own way."